by Aprille Hanson Spivey I have been a fan of the reality show “The Amazing Race” from almost the beginning of its 36-season run, starting in 2001. The show sets itself apart from other reality shows by its world travel, educating viewers as two-member teams compete in various challenges surrounding the local cultures and traditions of that country. The globe-hopping nature of the show keeps it fresh and entertaining after so many years. But on the May 1 episode, “That’s What Being Strong Will Do,” the show had an unprecedented upset that was mindboggling for a seasoned show like “The Amazing Race.”
Beloved mother-son teammates Danny and Angie Butler were eliminated in leg eight of the race in Bridgetown, Barbados, leaving five teams to compete for the $1 million prize. Their elimination had nothing to do with their abilities, but by a grave mistake by their camera crew and show producers, creating an unnecessary controversy. The two decked out in their Walla Walla shirts, a nod to their hometown in Washington state, accurately dubbed themselves underdogs early on. The lanky Danny, 27, is a superfan of the show, hosting his own versions of “The Amazing Race” in his hometown as a kid. His mom Angie, 55, is a seventh-grade teacher. The brilliance of “The Amazing Race” is how physically strong teams aren’t always the ones to dominate. Teams like Danny and Angie, who are incredibly intelligent and excellent navigators, can make it to the end. It doesn’t mean it’s not a tough road and the Walla Walla team certainly endured their share of hardships, but always prevailed with both endurance and endless positivity. It’s why their elimination was so crushing for fans. While navigating the chaotic streets in Barbados, Danny and Angie were driving in a tiny Jeep, made a quick turn in a roundabout and part of their camera crew went another direction. The episode shows the pair immediately realizing they lost their crew and the pair explained one of the rules of “The Amazing Race” is not to lose their crew. The show broke the fourth wall to show Danny radioing their crew with no response. While Angie was apprehensive, Danny persuaded her to keep going toward the Detour spot and the crew would meet them at that challenge location. In a May 2 article on Yahoo.com, Danny explained that the show’s security had told the competitors if they ever felt unsafe or are separated from their crew, they should continue onto the next destination. It’s exactly what the pair did, continuing on for about 16 minutes. But when they arrived, their crew didn’t show up. Because of this, they had to wait at the Detour for their crew to arrive before starting their next challenge. Viewers were led to believe their crew finally showed up, but it turns out, they never did. In an interview with US Weekly, Angie explained another team’s crew offered to film the pair when they first arrived, but producers decided the team needed to wait. Though it’s unclear in the show how long they waited, articles about the incident say they were stalled for about 45 minutes when producers relented and let another team’s crew film them so they could continue with the competition. But by that point, the other five teams had already shown up, completely obliterating their second-place standing. In reality, their actual crew didn’t show up until about an hour and a half later. This obscure penalty caused them to be the last team to arrive at the mat with host Phil Keoghan. In true Danny and Angie fashion, the pair took the elimination in stride. They have not once attacked the show for the decision and have been nothing but grateful for the opportunity to participate. They pointed to the silver lining that neither of them ultimately caused their team to be eliminated, something that would have been particularly devastating for mom Angie to be the cause of her son’s dreams being dashed. “The Amazing Race” does not play favorites. I’ve watched teams take multi-hour penalties for something they forgot or did wrong, have to apply for new passports when they lose theirs and just make crazy mistakes that force them to be the last team to arrive. I’ve seen everyone’s favorite team go home on countless seasons. But what bothers me, and so many other fans, about this elimination scenario, is that Danny and Angie did not do anything wrong. Their crew did. The team made a quick turn but they hardly made a maneuver to purposely evade their crew. They made contact immediately and continued to the Detour as they were told. They were not the ones driving that crew vehicle and had no control over what they did next. To suddenly go missing for over an hour when the Detour was 16 minutes away does not make sense. And if the rule was really that they had to wait for their crew to show back up, producers made an exception anyway, since an alternate crew filmed them after all. As Danny explained to US Weekly, a local instead of an official show crew member was driving the crew’s vehicle. I have no idea how common a scenario this is, but it’s inexcusable no matter who was driving, to take that long to get to the Detour location. It’s something producers should have recognized right away. Given the extra confusion in driving around Barbados – every team experienced navigation issues when most of the streets they were driving past were not named – producers could have let them continue to play right away with the other crew filming them and possibly given them some sort of penalty at the mat. It’s something that Danny pointed out on Reddit, the only slight criticism of the situation the two have expressed. But any on-the-fly penalty for something their crew did seems unfair. As a fan, I’d like to know explicitly where it says in “The Amazing Race” rules that if you lose your crew, whether intentionally or not, you have to wait for them to return before continuing to play. I suspect there is no written rule because it hasn’t happened before – at least it’s never been televised. And that likely reality makes this moment a bit of a black eye for a show that thrives on rules and fairness to all teams. By all means, give penalties to teams that do something wrong, but don’t punish them for mistakes by the crew that are supposed to be the silent documentarians. Because of the backlash, it wouldn’t surprise me if Danny and Angie were back in a future all-star season, where the show brings back old teammates to compete again. But it won’t be the same because these two had a shot at making it to the end this go around and I’m not sure all the stars and teams would align for them to do it again. “The Amazing Race” caused a team to be eliminated because of a mistake by their production crew, and it ultimately destroyed some of the magic of this season and the show in general.
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by Julian Spivey Hacks: Season 3 (Max) – Thursday, May 2 The long-awaited third season of Max’s Emmy-nominated comedy series “Hacks” is finally upon us and if you’re expecting a fall in quality don’t as critic Brian Tallerico is calling season three the show’s best yet (which is terrific but also a bit hard to believe). Jean Smart’s twice-Emmy-winning performance as comedian Deborah Vance is back on top of the comedy game after a successful comedy special but has cut ties with her much younger writing partner Ava, the exquisite Hannah Einbinder (this better be the year she wins the Emmy!), who is now working for a ‘Daily Show’-esque show and is bitter about being cut off by Deborah. “Hacks” has always worked best with Deborah/Ava as frenemies so this seems like a perfect place to start the third season. Unfrosted (Netflix) – Friday, May 3 Jerry Seinfeld has had the most peculiar career for a man who was on the top of the world with his ‘90s NBC sitcom “Seinfeld.” Since then, he hasn’t done a whole lot other than return to what he was in the first place, a stand-up comedian. His forays into other forms of pop culture have been head-scratchers: “Bee Movie,” a reality series about arguing married couples. His short-form love of comedy, coffee and cars series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” has been pretty cool though. His latest foray outside of stand-up is the original Netflix film “Unfrosted,” which he directed and stars in, about Kellogg’s and Post in a “space race”-like battle to create the Poptart that is very loosely based on reality. The comedy co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Sarah Cooper, Hugh Grant and Amy Schumer. Dark Matter (AppleTV+) – Wednesday, May 8 Last year as part of my monthly book club we read Blake Crouch’s 2016 sci-fi novel Dark Matter. It was an interesting tale of a man kidnapped and forced to find his way back home through alternate versions of his life. The novel has been turned into an AppleTV+ limited series starring Joel Edgerton as the lead character Jason Dessen. There’s not a whole lot one can say without giving away too much about “Dark Matter,” but it should be a thrilling ride for viewers. Bodkin (Netflix) – Thursday, May 9 Will Forte’s terrific, but unfortunately canceled before it wrapped up Fox sitcom “The Last Man on Earth” was one of my favorite comedies of the last decade. I’ve been longing for him to get another interesting look series – and sorry Peacock’s “MacGruber” wasn’t it. In the Netflix original “Bodkin,” Forte is an American podcaster looking to discover his Irish roots but winds up meeting an Irish journalist, played by Siobhan Cullen, and teaming up to discover mysterious disappearances from a charming, yet dark Irish town. “Bodkin” is billed as a dark comedy, something I know Forte can be terrific in. Doctor Who (Disney+) – Friday, May 10 “Doctor Who” fans should be excited for the new season featuring the time-traveling alien as it will be something of a restart for the series, which struggled a bit under previous showrunner Chris Chibnall. Russell T. Davies, who brought the show back to television in 2005, is back at the helm and with an exciting new actor Ncuti Gatwa taking over the controls of the TARDIS as The Doctor. Gatwa’s official debut in the 2023 Christmas special and his instant chemistry with new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson, was a nice start. I’m excited to see what Davies, Gatwa and Gibson can do with a full season. Evil: Final Season (Paramount+) – Thursday, May 23 The long-awaited fourth season of the excellent Paramount+ horror-drama series “Evil,” which is hard to believe began as a CBS series, is a bit of a bittersweet thing as it was announced it would also be the show’s final season – and unfortunately, that decision wasn’t made until the season was almost completed. Thankfully, Paramount gave the series a few extra episodes to wrap things up but I can’t help but feel things might be a bit rushed toward the finish line. The show, which stars Katja Herbers as a skeptic and Mike Colter as a priest tackling cases in the spiritual realm, has been one of the underdog triumphs on television since its debut. It’ll be interesting to see if good can conquer evil in the final season but when it comes to Robert and Michelle King’s series it’s likely to be a toss-up. We Are Lady Parts: Season 2 (Peacock) – Thursday, May 30 Earlier this year I finally got around to watching “We Are Lady Parts” on Peacock, even though it had been more than two years since its debut. What I found was one of the loveliest shows I’d seen in quite some time. “We Are Lady Parts” is the story of a group of Muslim women who form a kickass punk band and seem on the precipice of something big with the least punk person possible, Amina (played by Anjana Vasan) joins as lead guitarist. The chemistry between the bandmates, Vasan, Sarah Kameela Impey (as Saira), Juliette Motamed (as Ayesha), Faith Omole (as Bisma) and Lucie Shorthouse (as Momtaz) is unbelievable in the first season, especially for only being a six-episode season. I can’t wait to see what Lady Parts has in store for us in season two. by Julian Spivey O.J. Simpson, football legend and both acquitted and convicted criminal (depending on the charge), died on Wednesday, April 10 of prostate cancer at the age of 76. Simpson’s death instantly made me think of Norm Macdonald, one of my all-time favorite comedians and cast members of “Saturday Night Live.” It apparently led many others to do the same as Macdonald, who died in 2021 of leukemia, was trending on social media after the news broke of Simpson’s death. This is because Macdonald’s tenure on ‘SNL,’ in which he anchored the Weekend Update news desk was during the time of the O.J. Simpson murder trial in the mid-‘90s. Weekend Update of that era, a collaboration with Macdonald and legendary ‘SNL’ writer Jim Downey, was known for its dry sardonic sense of humor in which the two of them were going to do whatever they felt was funny with the audience’s response be damned. When they started in on the O.J. jokes with their obvious opinion of him being guilty it rankled some within NBC, especially Don Ohlmeyer, President of the network’s West Coast division, who was friends with Simpson. The Simpson jokes ultimately got Macdonald canned from Weekend Update in early 1998 and led to Downey’s ouster from the show (he would return in 2000) but they remain probably Macdonald’s most famous ‘SNL’ moments. Here are what I believe to be Norm Macdonald’s 10 Funniest O.J. Simpson Weekend Update jokes: 10. “In Brentwood, O.J. himself was spotted manning a lemonade stand with his daughter Sydney. Asked by reporters why sales were so poor, O.J. replied: “beats me.” And then he went back to cutting lemons with a giant knife.” 9. “Against the Jets last week Buffalo Bills running back Thurman Thomas broke O.J. Simpson’s career rushing record and the week before he surpassed Simpson in career touchdowns. Next up for Thomas? An attempt to kill three people at once.” 8. “This week at the O.J. Simpson trial the infamous bloody glove was finally introduced into evidence and O.J. didn’t help his case any by blurting out, “There it is, I’ve been lookin’ all over for that thing.” 7. “F. Lee Bailey said this week that if the defense only knew what Ron Goldman’s last words were they might be able to find the real killer. You know, if you asked me, Goldman’s last words were probably, ‘Hey, you’re O.J. Simpson.’” 6. “O.J. Simpson’s lawyers say they don’t want the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in the courtroom during the trial. They’re afraid the presence of the family members will just remind O.J. of how much killing he still has to do.” 5. [Graphic says 5th O.J. Juror Axed’] “Oh No, O.J. has struck again, how ‘bout that?” 4. “O.J. Simpson’s lawyers have decided to skip hearings on DNA evidence and go right to trial. Asked why they did this the lawyers replied: “We want to get O.J. acquitted as speedily as possible so he can get back to doing what he does best – killing people.” 3. “In his book O.J. Simpson says that he would’ve taken a bullet or stood in front of a train for Nicole. Man, I’ma tell you that’s some bad luck when the one guy who would’ve died for you, kills you.” 2. “In a brilliant move during the closing argument, Simpson's attorney Johnnie Cochran put on the knit cap prosecutors say O.J. Simpson wore the night he committed the murders. Although, O.J. may have hurt his case when he blurted, ‘Hey, hey easy with that. That’s my lucky stabbin’ hat.’” 1. [In the first ‘SNL’ episode following O.J. Simpson’s acquittal in the murder trial] “Well, it is finally official. Murder is legal in the state of California.” Here’s a compilation of some of Macdonald’s greatest O.J. Simpson Weekend Update jokes, many of which made this list. by Julian Spivey Ripley – Netflix – Thursday, April 4 The eight-episode psychological thriller miniseries “Ripley,” based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, premieres on Netflix on Thursday, April 4. The series, from Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List), sees con man and serial killer Tom Ripley, played by Andrew Scott, hired by a wealthy New Yorker in the ‘60s to convince his son to return home from Italy. But the son’s leisurely lifestyle might be too much for Ripley to pass up. Sugar – AppleTV+ - Friday, April 5 Colin Farrell in a drama as a private investigator on the search for missing people instantly seems like a must-watch. Farrell plays John Sugar in AppleTV+’s new drama from director Fernando Meirelles (“City of God”), which premieres on Friday, April 5. “Sugar” has been described by Variety as “a genre-bending contemporary Take on the private detective story.” The series co-stars Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Amy Ryan, Anna Gunn and James Cromwell. Scoop – Netflix – Friday, April 5 “Scoop,” directed by Philip Martin, is the dramatic retelling of the process the BBC went through in 2019 to interview Prince Andrew about his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which led to Prince Andrew’s public downfall. The film stars Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis, the BBC journalist doing the interview, and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew. “Scoop” premieres on Netflix on Friday, April 5. Under the Bridge – Hulu – Wednesday, April 17 The true crime miniseries “Under the Bridge,” premiering on Hulu on Wednesday, April 17, follows the 1997 murder of 14-year-old Canadian girl Reena Virk, who was beaten to death by a group of teenagers. The eight-episode series, which follows writer Rebecca Godfrey’s 2005 book of the same name, stars Riley Keough as Godfrey, whom the story is told through her eyes, as well as a local police officer, played by Lily Gladstone hot off her Oscar-nomination for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Conan O’Brien Must Go – Max – Thursday, April 18 Conan O’Brien’s Max debut is something I’ve been waiting a long time for and feared would never come. When the longtime late-night talk show host and comedian left his TBS show “Conan” in the summer of 2021 for his new venture with Max I never realized it would be almost three years before seeing him on television again. “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” premiering on Max on Thursday, April 18, will see O’Brien traveling the world meeting fans whom he’d probably done video calls with on his podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” The show will be similar to the travel series “Conan Without Borders” that he did while with TBS. It looks like the show, which will hopefully be an ongoing series, will only feature four episodes seeing Conan travel to Argentina, Ireland, Norway and Thailand. by Julian Spivey Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All – Netflix – Tuesday, February 13 Taylor Tomlinson is having a terrific start to 2024. Her late-night, social media-influenced pseudo-game show “After Midnight” premiered on CBS on January 17 and has been pretty good so far. This month comes her third stand-up special on Netflix, “Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All.” Tomlinson has become one of the biggest names in the stand-up world with a casual style of observational humor that makes her seem down to Earth and like a great hang. Oppenheimer – Peacock – Friday, February 16 “Oppenheimer,” one of the biggest movie blockbusters of 2023 as the second half of the “Barbenheimer” craze, makes its streaming debut on Peacock – you know that streaming service you got to watch that one NFL Playoff game that you said you were going to immediately cancel but likely forgot to do so – on Friday, February 16. Based on its box office numbers, there’s a good chance you’ve already seen “Oppenheimer,” but if you didn’t and want to check it out from the comfort of your home before it dominates the 2024 Academy Awards, for which it received a leading 13 nominations, here’s your chance. Screen Actors Guild Awards – Netflix – Saturday, February 24 Netflix entered into the live entertainment world last year with comedian Chris Rock’s live stand-up special “Selective Outrage.” Now the most popular streamer is getting into the awards telecast game with the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, after the show aired live on YouTube last year after spending decades on the Turner cable networks of TNT/TBS. The SAG Awards, which will begin at 7 p.m. (CST) on Saturday, February 24, are the last major precursor, at least for actors, before the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 10 on ABC. The SAG Awards feature honors for both movies and television with “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” each receiving four nominations on the movie side and the final season of HBO’s “Succession” leading the way for TV with five nominations. Barbra Streisand will be the Lifetime Achievement recipient. by Julian Spivey The 75th annual Emmy Awards were held on Monday, January 15 nearly four months after they were supposed to have happened in September 2023 due to the actors and writers strikes of last year. The celebration was dominated by “Succession” in the drama categories, “The Bear” in the comedy categories and “Beef” in the limited series categories, which set some – both viewers and entertainment journalists – to grumbling about the same shows winning all of the awards. This is a trend the Emmys have seen over the last handful of years with sweeps of the major awards happening more and more often like we’ve seen in recent years with “Schitt’s Creek,” “Ted Lasso” and “The Crown.” But I don’t quite get the hubbub about it. In fact, couldn’t you argue it’s a good thing that select shows are dominating the competition – doesn’t that prove those shows are the rightful victors of the medium and pinpoint them as the supreme shows of the now and surefire future classics? HBO’s drama “Succession,” which aired its fourth and final season in early 2023, and the FX/Hulu production “The Bear,” which was being honored for its first season that aired back in the summer of 2022, each won six of the seven categories they featured in on Monday night. The only loss for “Succession” was J. Smith Cameron failed to beat Jennifer Coolidge for “The White Lotus” in the Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category and “The Bear” didn’t have an eligible candidate for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, which went to Quinta Brunson for ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.” The Netflix limited series “Beef” won five of the seven awards it was eligible for in the Limited Series categories with only Maria Bello losing out on Supporting Actress in a Limited Series to Niecy Nash-Betts for Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” and both Joseph Lee and Young Mazino losing Supporting Actor in a Limited Series to Paul Walter Hauser for his performance in AppleTV+’s “Black Bird.” All three shows were considered among the best on television in their respective years of eligibility by critics. Now, critics aren’t among the body that votes for the Emmys, but if they believe the shows are deserving I don’t think you can fault the Television Academy voters for also thinking the same. So, what’s the deal with complaining? Is it just that the same shows winning the majority of the awards makes for a boring telecast? If that’s the case, let me remind you that this is an award show for artistic merit and not a sporting event. There was an NFL Playoff game on at the same time as the Emmy Awards that you could’ve been watching and judging by the all-time low TV ratings for the Emmys many people were indeed doing so. Award shows aren’t about participation trophies. It’s not an Oprah situation where you look around and say, “’Barry’ you get a trophy, ‘Ted Lasso’ you get a trophy, ‘Only Murders in the Building’ you get a trophy.” If you’re thinking, “I wish my favorite show had won instead of ‘Succession’” or something similar it’s a valid feeling. If I had a vote I would’ve been very tempted to have written down HBO’s “The Last of Us” in the Outstanding Drama Series slot instead of “Succession.” But it doesn’t make it wrong that “Succession” won and it certainly doesn’t mean since it won Outstanding Drama Series that Sarah Snook should miss out on her potentially once in a lifetime Emmy winning moment so Bella Ramsey (“The Last of Us” or Melanie Lynskey (“Yellowjackets”) could win to “spread the love around.” And if you’re complaining about shows winning awards that you haven’t seen take these moments of domination by “Succession,” “The Bear” and “Beef” as a recommendation that you should probably watch those shows. You may not like them – “Beef” certainly wasn’t my cup of tea – but if something is winning that many honors it must have a lot of love from a lot of people. At the end of the day if a body of voters are picking the same shows over and over again for awards we should realize these shows must be pretty damn good. There’s no reason to complain about excellence. by Julian Spivey Good Grief – Netflix – Friday, January 5 Dan Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” fame makes his directorial debut with Netflix’s “Good Grief,” about a man (played by Levy) grieving the deaths of both his husband and mother while traveling to Paris with his two best friends (Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel) for a weekend getaway. The film is sure to be heavy but in the hands of Levy should also have plenty of laughs and provide something heartwarming to begin your year with. Criminal Record – AppleTV+ - Wednesday, January 10 I’m interested in anything Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo are doing after enjoying their work in previous shows (mostly “Doctor Who” for Capaldi and “The Good Wife/The Good Fight” for Jumbo). Here they star in an eight-episode British crime thriller from creator Paul Rutman that has Capaldi as a veteran detective and Jumbo as a younger one clashing about a murder case from years before when new evidence arises. Self Reliance – Hulu – Friday, January 12 There’s always been something about Jake Johnson that interests me as an actor going back to when I first was introduced to him through his role as Nick Miller on Fox’s sitcom “New Girl.” I’ve gone with him nearly everywhere he’s gone since and now look forward to seeing his director skills in “Self Reliance,” his directorial debut. The film, a comedy thriller, sees Johnson playing a man who receives the opportunity to win $1 million in a reality series on the dark web if he can outwit and keep hunters from killing him for 30 days. There’s a loophole to the game, though, he can only be killed if he’s alone so he spends the time trying to convince anyone he can to remain with him 24/7. The film has a supporting cast that includes Anna Kendrick, Natalie Morales, Emily Hampshire and Christopher Lloyd. June – Paramount+ with Showtime – Tuesday, January 16 June Carter might be primarily known today as the wife of country music superstar Johnny Cash but Carter via her first family of country music The Carter Family was a superstar long before she met Cash. It’s nice to see a documentary about her life from documentarian Kristen Vaurio, one of the producers behind Alex Gibney’s acclaimed “Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief.” Cash is one of my musical heroes but I feel I don’t know as much as I’d like about Carter, so I’m thrilled this documentary exists so I can learn about her career and legacy. Masters of the Air – AppleTV+ - Friday, January 26 “Masters of the Air” is the highly anticipated, long-awaited companion series to HBO’s critically acclaimed WWII miniseries “Band of Brothers” (2001) and “The Pacific” (2010) that follows the 100th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Forces, which earned the nickname the “Bloody Hundredth.” The miniseries was created by John Shiban and John Orloff based on the 2007 book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller and executive produced by Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The nine-episode series features an all-star cast of Austin Butler (Oscar-nominee for “Elvis”), Barry Keoghan (Oscar-nominee for “The Banshees of Inisherin) and Ncuti Gatwa (“Doctor Who”) and will surely be one of the early frontrunners for Outstanding Limited Series for the 2024 Emmy Awards. by Julian Spivey 10. "Church and State" (Succession) I think a lot of best TV episode of the year lists would have the devastating “Connor’s Wedding” as the final season episode of “Succession” on the list – and don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing with terrific performances by the three Roy kids especially – but I’m going to go with the penultimate episode of the show “Church and State,” which sees everyone joining for the funeral of family patriarch Logan Roy and the super honest eulogies from his brother Ewan, an Emmy-nominated performance from James Cromwell, the devastating breakdown of Kieran Culkin’s Roman Roy and the redemption of Kendall Roy, meanwhile everyone is working behind the scenes to either destroy the GoJo deal or make sure it goes through. It was a riveting hour of television, as so many of “Succession” episodes were. 9. "Teacher Conference" (Abbott Elementary) I know ABC’s sitcom “Abbott Elementary” has only been on for two seasons but when we TV viewers are shipping two characters we want the show to put them together – even if we know deep down it might be a bit quick in the show’s run. There’s been no doubt since the show began that Quinta Brunson’s Janine and Tyler James Williams’s Gregory would be together but that doesn’t mean we were prepared for how darn cute things would get in “Teacher Conference.” The teachers are attending a conference – that feels like a work vacation for them – and when Janine and Gregory wind up having a few drinks together they begin to realize fully they have feelings for one another and with a little lack of inhibition engage in their first kiss – before, as is always the case in these “will-they-or-won’t-theys” realize what they’ve done and back away. Nevertheless, it’s likely the show’s cutest moment to date and proof Janine and Gregory are TV’s newest Pam and Jim. 8. "The Testi-Roastial" (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” has been one of my favorite shows on TV over the last half decade and it wrapped up its final season this year in a mostly positive way with a few duds thrown into the mix – but the best episode of the season and one of the show’s finest during its run was “The Testi-Roastial,” a true showcase for Alex Borstein’s Susie Myerson, the manager of comedian Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan). The final season is told with flash-forwards that show us that Susie and Midge had a parting of ways later on in their career together and this episode reveals the reasons behind it – while also giving us a Friars Club roast to Susie, who went on to be one of the most successful managers/agents in the world of comedy. It’s a brilliant performance throughout by Borstein with the most touching moment showing how she was there for her old mentor Harry Drake (David Paymer) when he needed anyone in his life to do so. 7. "Elora's Dad" (Reservation Dogs) The question of who Elora Danan’s (Devery Jacobs) father was and would we as an audience ever meet him always hung over the head of “Reservation Dogs.” It clearly wasn’t something that Elora ever seemed to be concerned about until she needed his signature on some paperwork to attend college. You don’t expect the meeting between Elora and her father, and it’s clear she just wants the signature and to bolt, to go very well but the show makes Rick, as played by guest star Ethan Hawke in terrific casting, likable from the start. He’s interested in learning about Elora and doesn’t make excuses for not seeking her out years before. His life hasn’t been easy but then again Elora grew up without a father and her mom died when she was just a baby. Still, the two seem to have an understanding and curiosity about each other, and the performances from Jacobs and Hawke, whom the entire episode focuses on, are terrific. The best thing about the episode for me is it’s written by Jacobs herself and shows just how in tune with her character she is and how many talents she also directed an episode in the final season. There aren’t enough superlatives for me to properly convey by appreciation of Jacobs and I hope we see her in some more great things and soon. 6. "Dead Man's Hand" (Poker Face) The pilot, titled “Dead Man’s Hand,” for director Rian Johnson’s comedy mystery series “Poker Face” was the perfect way to set up this series that is both a throwback in general feel and its crime of the week “Columbo”-style procedural. Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale works at a casino and has a gift (sometimes a curse) for being able to tell when people are lying. The casino’s boss played by Adrien Brody in the episode wants to use Charlie’s talent in a scheme but when she realizes he had her best friend killed she turns on him leading to her having to go on the run for the remainder of the season. Brody is always fantastic as a skeezy baddie and Lyonne instantly makes the audience fall in love with Charlie with her unique personality. 5. "Forks" (The Bear) The “Forks” episode coming directly after the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear” was WILD. There was so much chaos in “Fishes” and then “Forks” comes along with so much order that Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is truly a fish out of water in this new setting where he’s been sent to an upscale fine dining restaurant for some much-needed education. When Richie spends much of the week cleaning and arranging forks he views it as punishment from Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) but by the end of the episode we as an audience and Richie understand the reasoning for the assignment – it’s to gain confidence in himself. It’s to make him see he’s not just a loser but has qualities that can make him truly successful in the restaurant business. It’s such a terrific performance from Moss-Bachrach and a wonderful character-building episode for Richie, who we’ve always loved despite his flaws. 4. "it takes a psycho" (Barry) “it takes a psycho” is such a great episode of “Barry” in that it shows how incredible the supporting cast of the HBO series is without even the titular character appearing until the final seconds of the episode. In the previous episode, Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) had escaped from prison and this sets all of the others on edge, particularly Henry Winkler’s Gene Cousineau, who believes Barry is out to kill him for setting him up and getting him arrested at the end of season three. But the main performances I marveled at in the episode were those of Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed, whose acting career has hit the skids due to her blowing up on a subordinate and it going viral and is now attempting to resurrect her career as an acting teacher and the tragic storyline involving Anthony Carrigan’s Hank and Michael Irby’s Cristobal when they differ on how to run their criminal enterprise – with Cristobal having wanted to go clean. Goldberg and Carrigan truly put on master classes in this episode. 3. "Deer Lady" (Reservation Dogs) It’s always discomforting when a series that’s not a horror series, especially one that has many laughs, does an episode in the vein of a horror film – but I usually find them to be among the most riveting (like the Teddy Perkins episode of “Atlanta”) of a series when they do so. “Reservation Dogs” made the brilliant decision to tell the story of the Deer Lady, whom we first saw in season, and how she became this vigilante of justice against horrible men. When Deer Lady was a young girl she was kidnapped and taken to a boarding school to essentially de-native Natives, which was brilliantly shown by showrunner and writer of the episode Sterlin Harjo with the staff of mostly nuns speaking in garbled, unintelligible language because English wasn’t understood by the Natives. The harshness of the boarding school would lead to the death of some of its inhabitants and when the young girl’s friend is killed she makes her escape attempt and comes upon a magical deer in the woods who turns her into a spirit with the mission of putting an end to unsavory men. The performance of Deer Lady as an adult who never ages, played by Kaniehtiio Horn is at times chilling and at times, especially in her dealings with Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), so warm and motherly. The “Deer Lady” episode of “Reservation Dogs” is not only one of the best episodes of television of the year because of the amazing performances and storytelling involved but also the fact that it shines a light – as the series was so adept at doing – of telling a story that’s too often untold. 2. "Long, Long Time" (The Last of Us) When the third episode titled “Long, Long Time” of the first season of HBO’s horror drama “The Last of Us” aired early in 2023 I remember hearing and seeing raves about it being an instant classic and early candidate for TV episode of the year but not being a gamer – the show is based off a popular video game – or really a huge zombie genre viewer I didn’t know if I’d ever give the show a chance. I did in the final month of the year and, boy, am I glad I did. Not only is everything people said about this episode true but the first season of “The Last of Us” wound up No. 3 on my Best TV Shows of the Year list. “Long, Long Time” is mostly a stand-alone episode with the leads of the series only appearing at the end of the episode but the story it tells between two characters vaguely related to the story is maybe the most romantic on TV all year. Nick Offerman, known more for his comedy chops than his dramatic acting, plays Bill, a paranoid prepper whose paranoia has served him very well when a pandemic caused by fungus turns the public into zombies. But the life of a loner trying to survive the apocalypse can be a boring one, so when Murray Bartlett’s stumbles upon Bill’s compound, the typically recluse Bill eventually reveals himself as a bit of a softie and the two embark on a beautiful relationship throughout the years that’s told in an hour-long episode. It’s beautiful. It’s romantic. It’s tragic. But the script by showrunner Craig Mazin and wonderful performances by Offerman and Bartlett easily make it one of the most touching episodes of TV I’ve seen all year. 1. "Fishes" (The Bear) The stunt casting of so many famous faces for the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear” could’ve been such a distraction that it could have made for a disastrous episode. However, thanks to the always impeccable writing of showrunner Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo and the terrific performances of everyone involved “Fishes” would up being the most riveting episode of television for me in 2023. It’s a flashback episode that explains so much about Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Natalie (Abby Elliott) as we’ve seen them over the first season and a half. Jon Bernthal, who briefly played the eldest brother Michael in season one, returns for a beefier (wasn’t intended as a pun, but sure let’s go with it) role showing off his larger-than-life personality. Jamie Lee Curtis appears as the matriarch of the family Donna, who has some depression that seems to run within the Berzatto family, Bob Odenkirk is there as Uncle Lee, Sarah Paulson as Cousin Michelle, John Mulaney as her husband Stevie and Gillian Jacobs as Richie’s wife Tiffany. There are so many fantastic scenes throughout the episode that I can say you’ll have to watch it to really enjoy but the two that stood out to me the most and truly made for the most stressful watch (why is it the super stressful episodes of “The Bear” are the best episodes on all of television these last two years?) were the dinner table feud between Michael and Uncle Lee with absolutely seething performances by Bernthal and Odenkirk and the subsequent freak out by Donna. When Emmy season comes around for the second season of the show expect the guest categories to be littered with names from this thrilling, stress-inducing, brilliantly written and acted episode. What was your favorite episode of television in 2023? by Julian Spivey 10. Guest Actors (Reservation Dogs) The cast of “Reservation Dogs” over its terrific three-season run on Hulu was pitch-perfect and it would be a crime not to call out casting directors Angelique Midthunder and Jennifer Schwalenberg for their job bringing the talented actors together. What truly blew me away in the show’s final season this year was the terrific guest actors the show brought forth – some who had appeared in the series briefly before and others who hadn’t. Whether it was Graham Greene as an eccentric recluse who believes in aliens and struggles with his mental health, Kaniehtiio Horn as Deer Lady, a spirit in the form of a beautiful woman who seeks revenge on bad men for horrors of the past, Lily Gladstone as Hokti, Willie Jack’s aunt who’s in prison but Willie Jack looks up to for wisdom or Ethan Hawke as Elora Danan’s estranged father the entire season was filled with these wonderful, lived-in performances that made every second of the final season mesmerizing to watch. 9. Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live) We as a pop culture society should be talking about Ego Nwodim in the same way we did about past female greats on the iconic sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” like Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler and others but for some reason, her terrific body of work still seems to be a bit under the radar. Nwodim is consistently among the best cast members on ‘SNL,’ but had the greatest moment of her time on the show toward the end of season 48 in the spring when she debuted the ridiculously wild Lisa from Temecula, who expects her meat thoroughly cooked and won’t put up with any nonsense. It was the hardest I laughed at watching television in all of 2023. 8. Con O'Neill (Our Flag Means Death) There are many standout characters in Max’s pirate, LGBTQ+ comedy “Our Flag Means Death,” with the flashiest role going to Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard and many of the laughs going to Rhys Darby’s Stede Bonnet and much of the series focusing on their relationship. But the performance I couldn’t take my eyes off of in season two was Con O’Neill’s bastard of a pirate Izzy Hands, who was Blackbeard’s longtime right-hand man who wound up on his wrong side early on in season two to the point where it damn near killed him. The range of emotions felt by Izzy during the second season and the way O’Neill was able to portray them from his eyes and his witty repartee throughout the season had me realizing it was the best performance on the show. I’ll never forget his performance of “La Vie en Rose” in “Calypso’s Birthday.” 7. Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face) Natasha Lyonne is one of a kind. Nobody quite looks like her and nobody quite sounds like her. Much of the time it’s like she has an old-school energy to her that feels like she’d be more at home in the noir era of the ‘40s than today. But these aspects worked brilliantly for her performance as Charlie Cale on Peacock’s fun comedy mystery “Poker Face.” Lyonne’s Charlie is something of a modern-day Columbo but uses her unique knack for being able to determine when people are lying to solve crimes wherever she goes. Lyonne being the only regular cast member of the show also means she has to carry a lot of the show’s load and play off of guest actors every episode but she does it with aplomb. 6. Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso) There were a lot of questions going into the final season of AppleTV+’s Emmy-winning “Ted Lasso,” but the one that probably stood out the most for me was what this show was going to do with Nick Mohammed's character of Nate Shelley. Nate was one of the many likable characters on the show for most of its first two seasons going from the soccer team’s kit man to an assistant in that span but toward the end of season two the show turned him into a baddie and for reasons that weren’t all that clear. But “Ted Lasso” was always very human and humane to its characters and the redemption of Nate in the final season and watching Mohammed play him in all sorts of facets – from villain, to falling in love, to gaining some much-needed confidence and turning into the best version of him we’ve seen all series was a lovely way to finish off his run on the show. 5. Nick Offerman (The Last of Us) I realize that Nick Offerman has done drama before but it’s not something I’ve seen him do before. I loved him as the manly man Ron Swanson on “Parks & Recreation” and he often seems to play a version of this masculine, blue-collar character and he still did that in the wonderful “Long, Long Time” episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us,” which earned him an Emmy nomination (something he stunningly never received for playing Swanson) for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, but he also showed us a more loving, romantic and softer performance than we’re used to from him and was amazing at it. In the episode, Offerman plays Bill, a paranoid survivalist whose paranoia has led to him surviving and truly thriving in a world gone to hell when a fungal pandemic strikes and turns people into zombies. But it’s a lonely life to lead and when Frank, played by Emmy-nominated Murray Bartlett, stumbles upon Bill’s compound they strike up a lovely relationship that lasts for many years. I won’t spoil how their story ends but it’s one of the loveliest performances of the year on television and a true candidate for TV episode of the year. 4. Sarah Goldberg (Barry) HBO’s “Barry” was filled with terrific characters but I felt like Sarah Goldberg’s struggling actress Sally Reed was always an unsung hero of the show and she truly was its shining star in the final season. At the end of the show’s penultimate season, Bill Hader’s Barry Berkman is arrested when the authorities finally realize he’s a hitman involved in multiple deaths. So, the final season begins with Sally realizing that her boyfriend who she recently broke up with wasn’t who she thought he was, while also being at the lowest point in her career. Goldberg plays all of these feelings perfectly but her true starring moment comes late in the season when she’s reunited with Barry and living life on the run as a waitress in the middle of nowhere using her acting skills to truly live within the role. She also has one of the funniest moments of the year on TV – and one that speaks to her character so well – when she’s trying to show her acting student how a scene should be done and realizing she’s knocking it out of the park completely tries to steal the role right in front of her. I will never forgive the Emmy Awards for snubbing Goldberg for this final season. 3. Jeremy Strong (Succession) Truthfully, most of the cast of “Succession” could be on this list. Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Matthew Macfadyen specifically all had standout seasons and moments in the HBO drama’s final year. But Jeremy Strong’s Kendall Roy was always the one viewers felt would be the succeeder of his dad’s media empire and via Strong’s much-talked and written about ways of method acting he at times seemed to truly become this character. Strong completely owned every facet of Kendall from the many struggles with substances and depression to the feeling of knowing exactly what he’s doing to truly being a complete buffoon without much of a clue. Strong could knock scenes out of the park with his character’s vicious wit, while also conveying so much without saying a word at all, as he does in the devastating final scene and image of the series. 2. Jessica Williams (Shrinking) Jessica Williams’s performance as Gaby, a psychiatrist who works with the lead character Jimmy Laird, on AppleTV+’s freshman comedy “Shrinking” was the single funniest performance on television in 2023. I hadn’t been too familiar with Williams's work as I’ve never really been a viewer of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” of which she was a longtime correspondent, but by God, she is a treasure. Her performance dealing with the grief of her friend Jimmy, who lost his wife about a year before, while also grieving herself as she was the best friend of said wife could’ve been super heavy – as could the show have been as a whole – but she’s able to pull so much joy out of the character with the greatest line readings and facial expressions of the series. 1. Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) So, I had Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s performance as Richie Jerimovich on Hulu’s “The Bear” at No. 4 on my 10 Best TV Performances of 2022 list. I don’t typically like to feature the same performers and characters often on these lists – instead, hoping to showcase either new performances or unsung performances, but dammit if Moss-Bachrach’s performance as Richie wasn’t the best on TV this year. I can’t turn a blind eye to it. Richie for lack of a better word is a loser in season one of the show but at times he’s a lovable loser, one we feel is capable of more in life and we get to see that side of him in season two. In the flashback episode “Fishes,” we see Richie as a hopeful husband and future father wanting to better himself but never truly having gotten the opportunity or finding the right person to believe in him. That’s what’s led him down the road of becoming this loser and feeling sorry for himself. But in the very next episode, “Forks,” we see his transformation. He finds a group of people who believe in him – and ultimately it’s Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) who believes in him – and puts him through basically a crash course at a fancy restaurant to prove to him he can be a better man. It’s wonderful seeing this transformation through the performance of Moss-Bachrach and don’t worry, I’m sure Richie will always have some of that lovable loser in him. He just now has the confidence to go with it. by Julian Spivey 10. Doctor Who (Disney+) This might not be fair to some of the other great TV series I watched in 2023 to include what amounts to three one-hour 60th-anniversary specials of “Doctor Who” on my top 10 list – as I haven’t yet seen the Christmas special as of this writing which is essentially the debut of new Doctor Ncuti Gatwa (though he did have a role in the third of the specials) – but what the specials did was give me hope for the future of “Doctor Who” and wrap me up in the warm blanket of nostalgia. The nostalgia comes via Russell T. Davies returning to the series as showrunner and bringing back some fan-favorites in David Tennant as The Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble for the specials which I found all entertaining and one of which (“Wild Blue Yonder”) might even be an instant classic. The hope is still somewhat to be seen with what Davies can do with the series with Gatwa in the lead. Still, if the writing continues to be as entertaining as it was in the specials maybe Davies will right the ship that was shaky during the years with Chris Chibnall at the helm as showrunner. 9. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video) Half of the shows on my top 10 this year ended in 2023, which I find remarkable because ending a series well must be one of the hardest things for a TV show to accomplish. It feels like much of the hoopla that surrounded the first two seasons of Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” faded over the last three seasons – and I can somewhat see why (especially the third season) – but the characters always remained ones I wanted to spend an hour of an evening with, which is interesting because I feel like many of them would be grating in real-life. Showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino took a major chance in the final season when it came to the friendship/relationship between Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and Susie (Alex Borstein), which was always the most fascinating aspect of the show, but it mostly worked out. Yes, the final season did have a couple of the show’s worst episodes – I’m thinking of the episode with the musical about sanitation specifically – but the highs like “The Testi-Roastial” and the series finale “Four Minutes” were strong enough to forgive the missteps. 8. Poker Face (Peacock) Rian Johnson hit absolute gold with his series of ‘Knives Out’ movies, so when I heard he was bringing a similarly themed television show to Peacock I was pumped from the beginning. The decision to combine the murder mystery theme with a “case-of-the-week” serial a la “Columbo” was a nice throwback too. Then Natasha Lyonne comes along as the lead, truly the sole cast member of the series, to add levity and an air of uniqueness as only Lyonne can was just the chef’s kiss. Lyonne’s Charlie Cale can tell when someone is lying just by looking at them and constantly finds herself embroiled in murders and crimes everywhere she goes. The serialized style of the show allows for incredible guest casting and the first season alone featured wonderful performances by Adrien Brody, Judith Light, S. Epatha Merkerson, Nick Nolte, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and many others. 7. Succession (HBO) Honesty time. I had never seen a single episode of “Succession” until after the series ended this year. Because I felt I needed to see it before the end of the year for a list like this and wanted to see it before the Emmy Awards air in mid-January I binged the entire four seasons. So, having seen four seasons in a row may have affected the show’s placement despite trying to focus solely on the fourth and final season for this list. The other thing about “Succession” is I can see why it's such a beloved series – it’s amazing. The acting is impeccable. The writing, led by showrunner Jesse Armstrong, is among the greatest in TV history. But at the end of the day, every single character on this show is despicable and I think that impacts the show's standing for me personally when it comes to making this list. For instance, is AppleTV+’s “Shrinking,” which I have one spot ahead of “Succession” on this list a better show than “Succession” from an objective point of view – probably not. But I sure as hell enjoyed it more. The Roy family will go down as one of television’s greatest families but it’s ultimately because of how much they all sucked and how terrific Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Brian Cox and co. were at portraying that. 6. Shrinking (AppleTV+) “Shrinking” might only be No. 6 on my list of best shows of 2023 but I can say without a certainty that it was the single funniest show I watched all year – which is wild considering four of the shows ahead of it on this list are billed as comedies. “Shrinking,” created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein, stars Segel as a widower psychologist Jimmy who has essentially been a zombie drinking, drugging and whoring his way through life in the year since his wife’s death, while ignoring fathering his high school aged daughter. The first season of “Shrinking” sees Jimmy adapting some hands-on but wildly unprofessional methods in helping out his clients, which leads to friendship with one and eventually trouble with others. The cast of “Shrinking” is pitch-perfect with Harrison Ford showing he can do comedy as the surly Dr. Paul Rhoades, Jimmy’s mentor, Jessica Williams in the year’s funniest performance as fellow psychologist Gaby, Lukita Maxwell as Jimmy’s daughter Alice, Christa Miller as the hilarious overbearing neighbor Liz and Luke Tennie as the patient turned friend, a vet with anger issues. “Shrinking” will likely fill a gap for “Ted Lasso” fans, another AppleTV+ series, as a comedy with some heavy topics involved and a lovable cast of characters who keep you smiling. 5. Barry (HBO) HBO’s “Barry” was always dark – it’s a show about a hitman after all – but I think along the way some of the audience forgot that or either the humorous aspects of the series were so funny (and when the show was funny it was the funniest show on TV) they honed in on them more than the darkness behind the titular character. The way the show ended seemed to turn some of the audience off – but I felt like the show, at least when it came to most of its characters (it’s debatable if Henry Winkler’s Gene Cousineau got a deserving ending) ended as they should have. The performances of the final season – especially Sarah Goldberg’s as Sally (damn you still Emmys!) – were stellar, while Bill Hader who directed the entire final season showed that he could be one of today’s best auteurs if he wants to be. 4. Ted Lasso (AppleTV+) The backlash to the final season of AppleTV+’s comedy “Ted Lasso,” which had won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series its first two years and is nominated again for season three, surprised me. No, I didn’t think the final season was quite as great as the first two, but I still thought it was good enough to be my fourth favorite series of the year and this cast of characters is one I’m always going to be game to hang out with. Maybe people wanted Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) and Keeley (Juno Temple) to end up together? Yes, I did too. Maybe people didn’t want Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) to leave the team? I understand, but it was truly what the character needed to be happy. I felt most of the characters got the endings they deserved and I was very pleased by the redemption given to Nate (Nick Mohammed) after taking an abrupt heel turn at the end of season two. 3. The Last of Us (HBO) “The Last of Us” was the most surprising show of 2023 to me. I didn’t expect to enjoy it – hell, I wasn’t even going to watch it until so many critics and friends raved about it that I felt I couldn’t put it off any longer. I’m not a gamer and the series is based on the successful game of the same name about a pandemic caused by a fungus that effectively turns people into zombies. The show sees Joel (Pedro Pascal), a character with a tragic and troubled past, hired to escort teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country when it turns out she’s immune to the virus and might be the key to turning around society. The performances by Pascal and Ramsey are brilliant and the huge supporting cast of guest actresses and actors give amazing showcase performances throughout the season. 2. Reservation Dogs (Hulu) “Reservation Dogs” is everything great that television can be. For three seasons, showrunner Sterlin Harjo and his crew gave us a look into a community that we have never seen before on American television – the modern lives of Indigenous Americans. The bulk of “Reservation Dogs” is told through the four teens Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) and Cheese (Lane Factor) and that main cast is terrific but the final season truly branched out a bit more and spotlighted the entirety of this little Oklahoma community with terrific guest spots and side stories that shown how important tradition and community is to these folks. I couldn’t get enough and feel like the show could’ve continued without suffering in quality – but Harjo made the decision to quit while he was ahead and I respect it as “Reservation Dogs” truly ended with three seasons of perfection. 1. The Bear (Hulu) I don’t like to be boring by having the same No. 1 show two years in a row – but I couldn’t give this honor to any other show in 2023 than “The Bear.” As great as the first season of showrunner Christopher Storer’s little series about an award-winning chef who takes over the family Chicago beef restaurant and tries to transform it into something greater with a rag-tag team of misfits was the second season was arguably even better with such rewarding episodes as “Honeydew,” “Fishes,” “Forks” and “The Bear,” all perfect episodes. The show also fleshed out Abby Elliott’s Natalie and gave Lionel Boyce’s Marcus a standout episode to go with the continuing fascinating performances of Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. I don’t know how this show could get any better than these first two seasons have been but I’m greatly anticipating what Storer and crew have for us in season three. What was your favorite TV show of 2023? |
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